An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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A member of the family of asteroids that share → Jupiter's orbit and lie in elongated, curved regions around the two → Lagrangian points 60° ahead and behind of Jupiter. The Lagrangian points L4 and L5 host several thousands of them. Originally, the term Trojan applied only to asteroids sharing Jupiter's orbit; however, planetoidal bodies have been discovered at the Lagrangian points of Mars and Neptune as well, and are also referred to as → Mars Trojans and Neptune Trojans respectively.

M.E.; O.E. Troian, from Trojanus, from Troj(a) "Troy" + -anus; → asteroid.

Sayyârakhâ plural of sayyârak, → asteroid; Troâ-yi adj. of Troâ "Troy."

An asteroid whose rotational motion does not take place about its → principal axis. Such a behavior can be interpreted as a composition of two or more rotational periods, and described mathematically by a two dimensional → Fourier series (Pravec et al. 2005, Icarus, 173, 108).

The term was first used by A. W. Harris, 1994, Icarus, 107, 209. → tumble; → asteroid.